New Superintendent Gets Down to Work

When Eileen Rohan stood at the Pavilion during the Fairfax Festival and looked down at the groups of people celebrating and talking and dancing, she knew it was a special community. Though the people she watched were enjoying each other's company that morning, just days earlier she had seen the same town at sharp odds over a possible new K-5 school.

"When people came together, I felt like I was at my family's Thanksgiving," said Rohan. The welcoming feeling at the festival and parade was something she wanted to be a part of. "It's a special thing to have and to hold."

Fortunately for Rohan, she's going to be seeing a lot more of that community.

The new superintendent of the Ross Valley School District got to work on July 5. And there's plenty of work to get done.

The district and its new superintendent have to deal with huge state budget cuts, increasing enrollment concerns and an approximately $41 million bond measure on the ballot in November to address that enrollment growth.

"There's a lot to take in," said school board president Sharon Sagar.

Sagar also felt confident in Rohan, noting that Rohan took the initiative to come to a number of board meetings, workshops, "charettes" in Fairfax, and even the Fairfax Festival before she had been selected for the superintendent position.

The board had 39 applicants for the position and spent a few months looking for a replacement for former Superintendent Bryce Sumnick, who retired in December 2009 to care for her elderly parents. Catalina Nocon has served at interim superintendent since then. Rohan will earn $180,000 in the position.

"We're thrilled with our selection," said Sagar. "She's really got a lot of strengths in the areas we've identified."

Rohan, who lives in Lafayette near her extended family, most recently served as Director of Educational Services in the Petaluma City Schools District. Despite 20 years in education as a teacher, principal and administrator, Rohan didn't start out in the education field.

While working in the corporate environment doing marketing, development, and finance, Rohan had a "life-defining moment" when she dropped her daughter off at kindergarten.

She said she stood there, watching the kids play and thought, "What am I doing, what contribution am I making that will be important to these children?"

"I didn't know at the time, but it changed my life," she said. Within the next few months, she began her career in education. Though she's grateful now, "my life plan at that time was very different and it didn't involve becoming a teacher."

Rohan has long believed in developing life plans and five-year goals. And once she has those goals in sight, she works harder than anyone to achieve them.

When Rohan was 10 years old, she wanted to become a ballerina. Despite starting years later than most ballerinas, she made a goal of being in toe shoes by the time she was 12 and accomplished by the time she was 15.

Recently, her mother told her the ballet teacher said Rohan would never be a ballerina. But, at the time, Rohan didn't know she wasn't supposed to be any good. She worked hard and practiced six days a week. She worked with teachers from San Francisco and New York. And, eventually, she earned a scholarship to the San Francisco School of Ballet.

"I work really hard, 1,000 percent, and I'm pretty happy doing that," she said.

That desire for hard work is going to be put to the test in the coming months as the district prepares for one of its biggest facilities upgrades in years.

With little pause for an introduction, Rohan has dived right in to studies on the enrollment growth numbers and distribution, plans for adding more classrooms, guided tours of the facilities, and committee meetings to discuss recommendations for the board.

Though the district hasn't yet made finalized plans for the facilities to address the enrollment growth, the bond proposal is likely to include expanded space at White Hill, additional classrooms on all campuses, and the division of Brookside Upper and Lower into two separate K-5 campuses.

Rohan plays a key role in the direction these plans take.

"She'll help increase the educational opportunity for our students," said Sagar.